CN105144201A - Wireless signal generating cards and methods and system of using such cards - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic card connectable to a client terminal via a memory card reader slot. The electronic card comprises a card interface having at least one power supply pin set to be connected to at least one source terminal in an electronic card reader slot of a client terminal, a wireless communication unit electronically wired to be powered via the at least one power supply pin, and a signal encoder which operates the wireless communication unit to transmit a presence signal containing a unique identifier (ID) independently from any computational operation of the client terminal.

Description

Wireless signal generating card and method and system for using such card

【Technical field】

Some embodiments of the present invention relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to wireless signal generating memory cards and methods of generating and using wireless signal generating memory cards.

【Background technique】

Various memory cards such as flash memory cards have been incorporated into many host devices, including digital still cameras (DSCs), electronic organizers (PDAs), moving picture experts group (MPEG) audio layer III (MP3), smartphones, tablets, notebooks Computers, personal media players (PMP), mobile phones and other portable consumer electronics, etc.) standard portable and expandable storage media. As the size of portable devices shrinks, so does the physical size of flash memory cards. As the requirements for audio and video functionality increase, so do the requirements for flash memory card storage capacity.

Until a few years ago, user terminals such as mobile phones, tablet computers, digital cameras, etc. had to be connected to a host computer to download or upload electronic content therein. The electronic content may be, for example, pictures, video images, marketing material, music content, and the like. Applications to manage and control uploading and downloading content still exist on the host computer.

This need has led to the development of memory cards with wireless communication capabilities. For example, the SanDisk ^TM Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card wirelessly transfers photos and videos from your camera to your computer, tablet or smartphone. The wireless memory card has a built-in wireless connection, which can wirelessly upload photos and videos to the media library of an external device.

【Content of invention】

Some embodiments of the present invention provide an electronic card connectable to a user terminal via a memory card reader slot. The electronic card includes: a card interface having at least one power pin connected to at least one source terminal of an electronic card reader slot of a user terminal; a wireless communication unit connected to the at least one power pin and a signal encoder for operating said wireless communication unit to transmit a presence signal including a unique identifier (ID) independently of any computing operation of said user terminal.

Optionally, the presence signal is a beacon signal.

Optionally, when the user terminal is in an off state, the signal encoder operates the wireless communication unit to transmit the presence signal.

Optionally, when the user terminal is in an idle state, the signal encoder operates the wireless communication unit to transmit the presence signal.

Optionally, said unique identifier is associated with a user of said user terminal.

Optionally, the signal encoder controls the wireless communication unit to iteratively transmit the presence signal according to a predefined pattern.

Further optionally, the wireless communication unit is configured to scan a frequency band to detect at least one presence signal in the frequency band and send the presence signal in response to the detection.

Optionally, the wireless communication unit is a Bluetooth ^TM module.

Optionally, the electronic card includes a storage element; wherein the wireless communication unit establishes a wireless communication session with an external communication device independently of the operation of the user terminal, and during the wireless communication session receiving at least one data object in and storing the at least one data object in the storage element.

Optionally, the electronic card includes a storage element; the wireless communication unit establishes a wireless communication session with an external communication device, and receives at least one information in the wireless communication session and stores the information in the storage element to make this information accessible to said user terminal.

Optionally, the electronic card includes a housing that accommodates the card interface, the wireless communication unit, and the signal encoder; the size and shape of the housing are in accordance with the standard that constitutes a flash memory card (CF) One determines, for example, the Secure Digital (SD) card standard, the Mini SD card standard, the Micro SD card standard, the Memory Stick card standard, and the Extreme Digital (XD) video card standard.

Optionally, the wireless communication unit receives a message from an external communication device and simulates the action of inserting the electronic card into the card slot of the memory card reader by operating the card interface to trigger the operation of the user terminal.

Certain embodiments of the invention provide a presence recognition system. The system includes: a repository having a data set associated with a plurality of users and a plurality of unique identifiers (IDs); a plurality of electronic cards, each of which can be read by an electronic card connected to a user terminal the card slot is powered and is capable of transmitting a presence signal containing a particular unique identifier of said plurality of unique identifiers independently of any computing operation of said connected user terminal; a plurality of receivers, each of said receivers is configured to scan a frequency band to detect said presence signal; and at least one identification unit that receives said presence signal and extracts said specific unique identifier from said presence signal, and pairing the particular unique identifier with a particular user of the plurality of users using the data set, and detecting the presence of one of the plurality of users between the plurality of receivers based on the pairing indication near one.

Optionally, said presence identification system includes a billing unit that, based on said detected presence, authorizes a transaction between said particular user and an entity associated with said identification unit.

Optionally, said presence recognition system includes a monitoring module for monitoring the location of each of said users based on respectively detected presence.

Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a method of presence detection. The method includes: providing a data set associating a plurality of users with a plurality of unique identifiers (IDs); causing each of a plurality of electronic cards to transmit a unique identifier containing a specific one of the plurality of identifiers a presence signal, wherein each of said electronic cards is powered by a connection to an electronic card reader slot of a user terminal, so that the transmission of said presence signal is carried out independently of the operation of said connected user terminal operating a plurality of receivers, wherein each receiver is operative to scan a frequency band to detect the presence signal; extracting the specific unique identifier from the presence signal; pairing the specific unique identifier with a particular user of the plurality of users; and based on the pairing, outputting a presence indication indicating that a particular user of the plurality of users is approaching a particular user of the plurality of receivers receiver.

Optionally, the method includes: sending a message designated to the specific user to each of the plurality of electronic cards via a direct communication channel formed with each of the electronic cards.

Optionally, said information is generated based on information generated indirectly based on at least a received short message service (SMS), received an email, and received a push notification.

Optionally, the plurality of receivers are distributed in space.

Optionally, each said receiver is operable to trigger the transmission of a plurality of presence signals from a group of said electronic cards proximate to said receiver by sending a wake-up message. .

Unless otherwise specified, the meanings of all technical and/or academic terms used herein are consistent with the meanings of the terms in the field related to the present invention. The methods and/or materials described below are only examples, and methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice and testing of the embodiments of the present invention. When there is a conflict, the parameters and definitions in this patent shall prevail. In addition, the foregoing materials, methods, and examples are used as illustrations and should not be considered as limitations on this patent.

The implementation of the method and/or system related to the embodiments of this patent involves embodying and completing selected tasks manually, automatically, or a combination of both. In addition, according to the actual instruments and devices of the embodiments of the method and/or system of the present invention, some selected tasks may be performed by using an operating system through hardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof.

For example, the hardware used to execute specified tasks in the embodiment of the present invention may be a chip or a circuit. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, the software may be a plurality of software instructions issued by a certain computer using an appropriate operating system to perform the specified tasks. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, one or more tasks associated with the methods and/or systems described herein are performed by a data processor, such as a computer platform that executes a plurality of instructions. Optionally, the data processor includes a non-permanent memory to store instructions and/or data; and/or the data processor includes a persistent memory, such as a magnetic hard disk and/or removable media, to store instructions and/or data. Optionally, a network connection can also be provided. Optionally, a display device and/or a user input device such as a keyboard or mouse may also be provided.

【Description of drawings】

Some embodiments of the present invention are described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. Reference is made to the details in the drawings for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the invention. In this sense, the descriptions of these drawings can help those skilled in the art understand how the embodiments of the present invention are implemented.

In the attached picture:

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram according to some embodiments of the present invention, illustrating the internal arrangement of a connectable card that is powered by the memory card reader slot of the user terminal and operates independently of the user terminal;

Fig. 2 is another schematic diagram according to some embodiments of the present invention, showing the arrangement of internal components of a connectable memory card;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram according to some embodiments of the present invention, which is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of internal components of a connectable memory card;

4 is a schematic diagram of a presence recognition system for locating multiple users within an area and/or allowing those users to perform sensing actions (e.g., allowing a transaction), according to some embodiments of the present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a flowchart according to some embodiments of the present invention, showing a method for locating a user in a certain area.

【Detailed ways】

Some embodiments of the present invention are related to wireless communication, especially but not limited to, wireless signal generating memory card and generating method and method of using wireless signal generating memory card.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention, an electronic card is provided, which can be directly powered by the memory card reader slot of the host user terminal and transmit a presence signal (such as a beacon signal), This process is independent of any computing operations of the host user terminal and/or does not require the installation of any application or code to indicate and/or trigger the transmission of this presence signal. As shown in the examples below, the presence (signal) may be encoded as a wireless personal area network (WPAN) message, a wireless local area network (WLAN) message, radio frequency identification (RFID) and/or the like. The electronic card can be docked with a memory card reader slot (such as a flash memory card reader slot), such as a flash memory card (CF) standard, such as a secure digital (SD) card standard, a mini SD card standard, a micro SD card Standard, Memory Stick Card Standard and Extreme Digital (XD) Graphics Card Standard. An electronic card, also called a connectable card, may comprise one or more storage elements for storing data received wirelessly by a transmission unit of said electronic card and/or for storing data transmitted wirelessly by the transmission unit. In these embodiments, the aforementioned connectable card and an external entity can directly establish communication without any operation of the host user terminal. Additionally or alternatively, a communication channel may be established between the host user terminal and an external entity via the connectable card, eg with a memory of the connectable card as a buffer. This communication channel can be used as a secure channel for sending information, such as positioning information between two parties without exposing the overall communication service of the host user terminal; and/or as a communication means to enhance a user terminal that does not support communication with the external entity .

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a method and system for using an electronic card, as described above and below, which can be used to monitor and/or locate a user (referred to herein interchangeably for brevity) and/or Or allow the user to perform a location-based action, such as allowing a transaction, receiving a message, sending a message, prompting for presence, and/or the like.

Before describing in detail at least one embodiment of the present invention, it must be understood that the present invention is not limited to the details of construction and the arrangement of components and/or methods employed in the following detailed description and/or illustrations and/or examples. The present invention can be practiced or carried out in other various forms of embodiments.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, refer to FIG. 1 : this figure is a schematic structural diagram of the arrangement of internal components of a connectable card 100 . The card, also known as an electronic card, is powered by a memory card reader slot of a host user terminal and transmits a signal containing identification data (unique identifier), which signal is referred to herein as a presence signal, For example a beacon signal, optionally the transmission of the presence signal is independent of the operation of said host user terminal. The connection card 100 can be in a format conforming to the CF card standard, such as SD card standard, mini SD card standard, micro SD card standard, memory stick card standard and extreme digital XD-picture card standard. The memory card reader slot can be formatted to any of the above standards. Here, a user terminal refers to a user electronic device, such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer and/or other similar devices. It should be noted that the user terminal may be a simple communication device without wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or wireless personal area network (WPAN) capabilities. The components of the connectable card 100 shown in FIG. 1 are housed in a housing 99 of the size and shape of an SD card (eg, about 1 mm thick, about 11 mm wide, and about 15 mm long). For other storage devices, the card reader card slot can be adapted with other shells. Here, the action performed by the connectable card 100 independent of the operation of a host user terminal means: the action has nothing to do with the input of the host user terminal or the state of the host user terminal, for example, when the aforementioned host user terminal is in Idle state, when the host user terminal is not required to perform any computing operations, or when the aforementioned host user terminal is turned off and/or in a similar state. Note that the host user terminal may not control any applications communicating with the connectable card 100 .

The connectable card 100 includes a transmission device 101 connected to the wireless communication antenna 102 with wires and a card interface. Optionally, the card interface can have a data bus 109, which can be connected via the memory card reader of the user terminal. The card slot supplies power to the transmission device 101 . Optionally, when the card interface includes one or more power supply pins connected to the source terminal of the card slot of the memory card reader, the card interface is not connected to other terminals of the card slot of the memory card reader. connected to the source terminal, for example not connected to the data source terminal. For example, the card interface is only connected to host control interface (HCI), Vdd, and/or ground terminals.

Optionally, the connectable card 100 includes an oscillator connected to the transmission device 101 . Optionally, the connectable card 100 further includes a signal encoder 103, which can instruct the transmission device 101 to generate a signal containing unique identifier data, such as a user unique identifier, a device unique identifier, and and/or any value that uniquely identifies a member of a group, such as a group of subscribers and/or users. The signal encoder 103 may be part of the transmission device 101 . Optionally, the transmission device 101 can be or include a WPAN module, such as a Bluetooth system chip (SoC) or a Zigbee ^TM system chip, a WLAN module, such as a WiFi ^TM system chip and/or a radio frequency identification module (such as radio frequency identification system-on-a-chip and/or similar chips).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 , the data bus 109 of the card interface optionally includes a power supply pin 107 for supplying power to a lead terminal of a memory card reader slot of a user terminal. The power pin may be one of the plurality of pins 106 and may be active and/or inactive as defined by a memory card protocol. For example, Table 1 and Table 2 below list the signal function of each pin in Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and SD mode.

Table 1:

Table 2:

The direct connection between the power supply pin 107 of the connectable card and the power supply lead terminal of the memory card reader slot of the user terminal of the host computer can supply power to the transmission device 101, and it is not compatible with the operation of the user terminal of the host computer. Unrelated and independent. This allows the connectable card to operate the transmission means 101 in response to the detection of an inquiry signal and/or according to a predefined mode (eg iterative and/or continuous mode) to transmit a message containing the user and/or the A signal of a unique identifier of the host user terminal and/or said connectable card.

For example, operating said transmission means 101 to transmit a presence signal comprising a unique identifier associated with said connectable card 100, for example, at every 0.1 second (s), 1 s, 5 s, 10 s, 30 s, 1 minute (min ), 5 min or any other time interval or longer period of time, storing the presence signal in the storage means. It must be noted that since the data transmission is independent of the user terminal, energy is saved in relation to the operation of the processor of the user terminal and the execution of the operating system of the user terminal.

Optionally, said connectable card 100 has no storage element accessible to said user terminal. Optionally, the connectable card 100 only includes power pins 107 . In such an embodiment, the user terminal may not even recognize the connection of the connectable card 100 .

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the signal encoder 103 can issue instructions to the transmission device 101 during an authentication session, such as performing an automatic handshake procedure, before a transaction is executed or before a key (such as unique identifier) sets the dynamic parameters of a communication channel established between said connectable card 100 and an external terminal before being sent by the contactable device in the wireless channel. Optionally, no data connection is established between the signal encoder 103 and the host user terminal, and the unique identifier and/or any data that may appear during the data transmission of the transmission device 101 is enhanced. protection of.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the connectable card is a memory card, and the memory card also includes a storage component, such as a flash memory component. In these embodiments, said transmission device 101 is operable independently of said user terminal to receive data objects and to store received data objects in said storage means.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram according to some embodiments of the present invention, showing a schematic arrangement of internal components of a connectable memory card 200 including the components of the connection card 100 and a storage element 201 .

As depicted in FIG. 2, the memory card 200 includes a power management unit 202 for managing power distribution between the storage element 201 and the transmission device 101; optionally, Vdd (FET positive supply in FET circuits) to Vcc (positive supply in bipolar circuits).

Another schematic arrangement of components is shown in FIG. 3 , which is a schematic arrangement of internal components of a connectable memory card 300 in some embodiments of the present invention. In Fig. 3, some components follow the numbers in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2; and in these embodiments, the transmission device 101 includes a microcontroller, which can control a wireless transceiver (such as a Bluetooth transceiver) to transmit A presence signal for a unique identifier.

Optionally, a host communication module can be used to manage the communication between the transmission device 101 and the host user terminal, for example during or after an authentication session. In such an embodiment, the host communication module can be used to manage the communication with the host user terminal, for example, to determine when the communication with the host user terminal needs to be established according to the analysis of the wirelessly received data. Optionally, the host communication module may determine when to include the host user terminal according to a set of rules. In this way, the host user terminal can be operated by the connectable card only when required, without transmitting the presence signal and/or without sending data already present in the storage element 201 .

According to some embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a presence recognition system 400 . The presence identification system enables the location of users within an area by recognizing a signal from a contact card powered by said client terminal and transmitting a signal containing a unique identifier, and/or allowing users to Proximity to an external terminal (eg a payment device) to perform an action and/or an operation. Optionally, the presence recognition system 400 can be used to locate a user in a certain space and/or allow the user to display the user's presence when approaching a certain device or device, for example, it can be used to identify a certain action (for example: access control recognition actions, attendance recognition actions, payment actions, such as actions similar to Near Field Communication (NFC) payments and/or similar actions).

The presence identification system 400 includes a repository 401 that controls a data set 402 that associates multiple users with multiple unique identifiers. The presence recognition system further includes a plurality of connectable cards 403 as described above (for example, refer to FIGS. 1 to 3 ). Each connectable card is arranged to transmit a signal containing a unique identifier. For example, said users are assigned connectable cards 403 installable in user terminals 404, so each user 405 installs a connectable card 403 to transmit her unique identifier in response to a query and/or iteratively or Repeatedly transmit her unique identifier. Here, an external terminal can be any device that includes a receiver that can be used to recognize signals sent passively or actively from a connectable card, for example for identification, payment, statistical data analysis, action reception, Monitor the recognition of actions such as this.

The presence recognition system 400 further includes a plurality of receiving units 406, each receiving unit includes a receiver, a transmitter and/or a transceiver, such as a WPAN and/or WLAN receiver and/or transceiver, distributed in a certain within a space. Each receiver and/or transceiver 406 may scan a frequency band to detect a presence signal by passively or actively initiating a wake-up procedure, such as sending a wake-up message, which may be iterative, periodic Optionally and/or based on a presence recognition received at another sensor, such as a volume detector and/or an imager. Optionally, the wake-up procedure includes reinitializing the connectable card and/or the card interface of the connectable card, simulating the action of reinserting the connectable card, for example triggering the operating system and/or triggering the The processor of the client terminal.

The receiver and/or transceiver 406, hereinafter referred to as the receiving unit 406 for brevity, can be integrated on the platform and/or equipment, allowing the user to express the willingness to perform a certain sensing action, for example, through the host user terminal 404 Positioning, when the host user terminal is in proximity to any of said receiving units 406, permits a transaction or reveals its presence. In such an embodiment, a two-way communication can be established between the connectable card 403 and the receiving unit 406, for example a mutual authentication and/or identity verification procedure can be performed. In such an embodiment, a user interface module (not shown) is installed in the host user terminal 404 and can communicate with the connectable card 403 to allow each user 405 to complete authentication and/or identification program.

Optionally, data received from the host user terminal 404 is directly transmitted to the wireless communication unit via the card-connectable data bus 109 . Optionally, the data received from the host user terminal 404 is transmitted to the storage element 201, extracted therefrom by the wireless communication unit and then transmitted. Optionally, only data from said storage element 201 is accessible by an external terminal to avoid any access to said host client terminal data.

The receiving unit 406 and/or the connectable card 403 are optionally adapted for use with the system 400 . In one system, the receiving unit 406 is used to identify a willingness to perform some presence action, such as allowing a certain transaction, such as a receiver installed at a toll booth, which can recognize that a connectable card is approaching the receiver— —For example, when the distance is less than 10 centimeters (cm) or 5cm, for example, a touch event. Other examples are: receivers are used to locate a user within a certain area, so the receiver can be set to recognize the presence of a connectable card within a certain sub-area - eg 10m from a certain receiver. This presence may be estimated from the strength of the signal and/or incorporating other location markers, such as interrogating location data obtained from a location sensor or module of the host user terminal. For example, when a receiver recognizes that a particular connectable card is in proximity to the receiver, the receiver initiates a communication session to query for more location-related data, such as data obtained from a Global Positioning System (GPS) module and/or Or data obtained from a mobile phone location service.

The system 400 further includes one or more identifier extraction modules 410 operable to extract a unique identifier recognized by the receiving unit 406 from the presence signal. The identifier extraction module 410 is optionally located in a central unit, and receives intercepted signals from the receiving unit 406 via a communication network 411 (eg, WLAN). Additionally or alternatively, the identifier extraction module 410 located in each receiver may extract the unique identifier and optionally send the unique identifier to a central component.

The system 400 further includes one or more identification modules 412 designed to pair a unique identifier extracted from the measured signal with a user in the data set 402 . This allows the identification module 412 to display which users are in a nearby location. Optionally, the identification module 412 is located in the central component, and receives the identifier of the information in the receiving unit 406 via the communication network 411 (such as WLAN).

Additionally or alternatively, an identifier extraction module such as 412, located in each receiving unit, can access the data set 402 to pair the unique identifiers. In these embodiments, the presence indication may be sent to the aforementioned central component. The indication may allow a billing module or unit to bill the user based on the detection and/or may allow a monitoring module/unit to map a user location based on the detection. For example, the system can be connected to payment terminals (each with a receiver) and/or monitoring terminals (each with a receiver), which are connected to a central mapping module.

Additionally or alternatively, one or more of said receiving units 406 may establish a communication channel with a connectable card 403 located nearby. For example, when a receiving unit recognizes that a connectable card 403 associated with a particular user is in the vicinity, the receiving unit will send a message and/or a data object (such as location information, optionally , send personalized messages based on her (the user's) unique identifier). Optionally, the information and/or the data objects are stored in the memory of the connectable card 403 until retrieved by the host user terminal (i.e. when a user and/or an application is operating) and/or Or until a certain time is reached as indicated by the time stamp accompanying the message. In another example, after the receiving unit recognizes that a connectable card 403 associated with a particular user is nearby, the receiving unit receives a predefined message and/or a data object from the connectable card, optionally Designating the aforementioned receiving unit 403 may be identified during the process of establishing the channel.

5 is a flowchart of a method of locating multiple users in an area and/or allowing them to perform presence-based actions using the system as depicted in FIG. 4, according to some embodiments of the invention.

First, represented in 501 is a data set associated with multiple users and multiple unique identifiers as provided in 402 . As shown at 502, each of the plurality of connectable cards, shown at 501, may transmit a presence signal including one of the plurality of identifiers. For example, the memory of each connectable card is updated with a unique identifier. Optionally, each connectable card may be as shown in FIGS. 1-3 . As shown in 503, optionally, each receiving unit in a group of receiving units, distributed in an area or multiple areas (as in 406), can be used to identify the signal from the connectable card. For example, the receiving units may be distributed in a shopping mall, a facility, an office and other places. As shown at 504, this allows each receiver to extract the (eg encrypted) unique identifiers within this information and match them with data from the data set to identify users located in close proximity to the receiver. Optionally, the signal including the unique identifier is captured during a two-way communication session. As shown at 505, this shows that some or all users, as previously described, are in proximity to each receiver. This also allows for the identification of users performing inductive actions (such as allowing a transaction and/or indicating presence) who may have actively brought their user terminal close to the receiver, or passively as previously described. of the receiver. Additionally or alternatively, a direct communication channel with the host user terminal can be established via the aforementioned connectable card, for example using a memory element of the connectable card as a buffer and/or by directly connecting the transmission means to the host user terminal. The host user terminal described above. The communication may be point-to-point communication. The communication may be indirect, where information is received via short message service (SMS) and/or email and/or push notifications and forwarded by one of the receiving units to one or more of said possible Connect the information on the card.

The direct communication channel allows positioning information to be sent to the host user terminal without using external systems for positioning, eg without using Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) interceptors and/or similar systems.

During the period from filing to expiry of a patent, many related systems and methods can be expected to be developed, and the scope of terms referred to herein such as a module, a receiver, a user terminal, and a memory card are intended to include a priori all such new technology.

As used herein, the word "about" means ±10%.

The phrases "comprises", "comprising", "includes", "including", "having" and their conjugates mean "including but not limited to".

The phrase "consisting essentially of" means that the composition, method or structure may contain additional ingredients, steps and/or components, but only if the additional ingredients, steps and/or components do not substantially alter the claimed In the case of essential and novel properties of the composition, method or structure.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural forms unless expressly indicated otherwise. For example, the terms "a complex" or "at least one complex" may mean multiple complexes, including mixtures thereof.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as an advantage of that embodiment over other embodiments and/or to exclude combinations with features of other embodiments.

The word "optionally" is used herein to mean "in some embodiments and in other embodiments not". Any particular embodiment of the invention may include multiple "optional" features, unless these features conflict.

Throughout this application, various embodiments of this invention may be presented in a range format. It should be understood that the description in range format is merely for convenience and brevity and should not be construed as an inflexible limitation on the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the description of a range should be considered to have specifically disclosed all the feasible subranges and individual values within that range. For example, a description of a range such as from 1 to 6 should be read as specifically disclosing a range such as from 1 to 3, from 1 to 4, from 1 to 5, from 2 to 4, from 2 to 6, from 3 to 6 etc. and individual numbers within that range, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. It applies regardless of the breadth of the scope.

Whenever a numerical range is indicated herein, it is meant to include any cited numeral (fractional or integral) within the indicated range. Phrases such as "range between" a first denoted numeral and a second denoted numeral and "range from the first denoted numeral" to "the second denoted numeral" are used interchangeably herein and mean to include the first and the The second indicates a numeral and all fractions and integers therebetween.

It is to be appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable combination or as appropriate in any other described embodiment of the invention. Certain features described in the context of various implementations are not considered essential features of those implementations, unless the implementation is non-functional without those elements.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments of the present invention, it is obvious that many other alternatives, modifications and changes will be easily understood by those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and changes that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.

All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention. As to the section headings used, they should not be construed as necessary limitations.

Claims (21)

1. An electronic card connectable to a user terminal via a memory card reader slot, the electronic card comprising: a card interface having at least one power supply pin connected to at least one source terminal of an electronic card reader slot of a user terminal; a wireless communication unit connected to said at least one power supply pin with a wire connection for powering it; and a signal encoder operable to operate said wireless communication unit to transmit a presence signal comprising a unique identifier (ID) independently of any computational operation by said user terminal. 2. The electronic card of claim 1, wherein the presence signal is a beacon signal. 3. The electronic card of claim 1, wherein the signal encoder operates the wireless communication unit to transmit the presence signal when the user terminal is in a closed state. 4. The electronic card of claim 1, wherein the signal encoder operates the wireless communication unit to transmit the presence signal when the user terminal is in an idle state. 5. The electronic card of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a user of the user terminal. 6. The electronic card of claim 1, wherein the signal encoder controls the wireless communication unit to iteratively transmit the presence signal according to a predefined pattern. 7. The electronic card of claim 6, wherein the wireless communication unit is configured to scan a frequency band to detect at least one presence signal in the frequency band and transmit the presence signal in response to the detection. 8. The electronic card as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit is a Bluetooth module. 9. The electronic card according to claim 1, further comprising a storage element; wherein the wireless communication unit establishes a wireless communication session with an external communication device independently of the operation of the user terminal, and receiving at least one data object in the wireless communication session and storing the at least one data object in the storage element. 10. The electronic card as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a storage element; the wireless communication unit establishes a wireless communication session with an external communication device, and receives at least one message in the wireless communication session and This information is stored in said storage element, making this information accessible to said user terminal. 11. The electronic card as claimed in claim 1, wherein, further comprising a housing, the housing accommodates the card interface, the wireless communication unit and the signal encoder; the size and shape of the housing are based on the composition of the flash memory One of the standards for the card (CF), such as the Secure Digital (SD) card standard, the Mini SD card standard, the Micro SD card standard, the Memory Stick card standard, and the Extreme Digital (XD) video card standard. 12. The electronic card according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit receives a message from an external communication device and simulates inserting the electronic card into the user terminal by operating the card interface to trigger the operation of the user terminal. Operation of the memory card reader slot. 13. A presence recognition system comprising: a repository having a data set associated with a plurality of users and a plurality of unique identifiers (IDs); A plurality of electronic cards, each of which is capable of being powered by connection to an electronic card reader slot of a user terminal and capable of transmitting information containing all a presence signal of a particular unique identifier among the plurality of unique identifiers; a plurality of receivers, each of which scans a frequency band to detect the presence signal; and at least one identification unit that receives the presence signal, extracts the specific unique identifier from the presence signal, and associates the specific unique identifier with the plurality of users using the data set pairing with a specific user in the pairing, and detecting the presence of one of the plurality of users in the vicinity of one of the plurality of receivers based on the pairing display. 14. The presence identification system of claim 13, further comprising a billing unit that, based on said detected presence, authorizes said particular user and an entity associated with said identification unit to conduct a deal. 15. The presence recognition system of claim 13, further comprising a monitoring module that monitors the location of each of said users based on the respective detected presence. 16. A method of presence detection comprising: providing a data set associating multiple users with multiple unique identifiers (IDs); causing each electronic card of a plurality of electronic cards to transmit a presence signal comprising a specific unique identifier of said plurality of identifiers, wherein each said electronic card is readable by an electronic card of a user terminal via a connection power supply to the card slot of the device, so as to carry out the transmission of the presence signal under the operation independent of the user terminal of the connection; operating a plurality of receivers, wherein each receiver is operative to scan a frequency band to detect the presence signal; extracting said specific unique identifier from said presence signal; pairing the particular unique identifier with a particular user of the plurality of users using the data set; and Based on the pairing, outputting a presence indication indicates that a particular user of the plurality of users is in proximity to a receiver of the plurality of receivers. 17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: sending a message designated to the specific user to each of the plurality of electronic cards via a direct communication channel formed with each of the electronic cards. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the information is based on information generated indirectly based on at least one received a short message service (SMS), received an email, and received a push notification produce. 19. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of receivers are distributed in space. 20. A computer readable medium containing computer executable instructions that can perform the method of claim 16. 21. The method of claim 16, wherein each of said receivers is operative to trigger the transmission of a plurality of presence signals from a group of said electronic cards proximate to said receiver by sending a wake-up message .